The Statistics (Amendment) Act 1984 governs the activities of the Statistical Institute of Jamaica (STATIN). Under the Act, the portfolio Minister appoints the members of the Board of Directors, which is the ultimate decision-making and policy-setting body for the Institute. The Ministry also appoints the Director-General who is responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of the Institute.

STATIN, the national statistics office, is the primary provider of statistical data on Jamaica. Among the functions of the Institute, as defined under the Statistics Act are:

· to collect, compile, analyze, abstract and publish statistical information relating to the commercial, industrial, social, economic and general activities and condition of the Jamaican people; and

The Statistics (Amendment) Act 1984 has given STATIN the legal authority to:

“promote and develop integrated social and economic statistics pertaining to Jamaica and to co-ordinate programmes for the integration of such statistics, in accordance with the provisions of this Act,” as well as to “collaborate with public agencies in the collection, compilation and publication of statistical information, including statistical information derived from the activities of such agencies.

Section 17 of the Statistics (Amendment) Act 1984 restricts the disclosure of information relating to an individual person or business, but also sets out particular circumstances where exceptions are permitted (for example, with written consent of the person or owner of the business). Prior to the execution of a contract of employment (permanent staff) or contract employment, persons are required to complete and sign a Form of Oath pursuant to this stipulation in the Statistics Act. In the event of the breach of this provision the Act also provides for criminal prosecution.

To balance STATIN’s extensive powers to collect information, mostly through mandatory reporting, the Statistics Act establishes the rigorous legal obligation for the Agency to keep respondents’ information in trust. The legislation makes a formal commitment to respondents that the information they provide will never be released to anyone in a form that will identify them without their authorization.

Much of the Agency's credibility rests on confidentiality protection as a bedrock condition of operation. Given its critical importance, this commitment to confidentiality is found not only in the law but also in the culture of STATIN.

STATIN subscribes to the UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics and is free from political influence and interference from the political directorate, administrative agencies, special-interest groups or other agents.

Dissemination of data by STATIN is not accompanied by any ministerial commentary. The portfolio Minister does not influence dissemination of statistical reports.

STATIN has sole responsibility for choosing the standards, methods and procedures, as well as the content and timing of statistical releases, observing international standards and commitments to bilateral and multilateral agreements.

STATIN is prohibited by law to disclose identifying information with the data it publishes. This is communicated at the point of data collection and is outlined in STATIN’s Terms & Conditions of Data Use and in its Data Dissemination Policy (Draft).

STATIN uses an advance release calendar (ARC) which it publishes on its website. Where there may be a delay in publication of data, data users are notified with an explanation and the new release date is stated.

Prior internal governmental access to official statistics is granted no more than 24 hours before the release date and is granted for information purposes only. Exceptions to the 24 hour limit on prior release occur when early access is granted to ministers with responsibility for a given domain of statistics who may need to take appropriate action upon release of the official figures and to MDAs that require STATIN’s output as input for their work programme. Examples include trade data being released to the Bank of Jamaica; and in some cases, population data being released to other MDAs. The Office of the Director General disseminates data for purposes of prior internal governmental access to select stakeholders.

The conduct of the Institute’s staff is guided by the Staff Handbook which is a manual for appropriate behaviour on the job. The Institute also subscribes to the International Statistical Institute’s Declaration on Professional Ethics.

Both the concept and definition of employment adopted by the Labour Force Survey (LFS) are based on those endorsed by the ILO.

Employed persons: Persons, 14 years of age and older, who performed any work for pay or profit during the reference week, orwho had a job and were absent from work.

More specifically, employed persons are those who during the reference week:

· did any work at all at a job or business, that is, paid work in the context of an employer-employee relationship, or self-employment. It also includes unpaid family work, which is defined as unpaid work contributing directly to the operation of a farm, business or professional practice, or

· had a job but were not at work due to factors such as own illness or disability, personal or family responsibilities, vacation, labour dispute or other reasons.

Other key concepts and definitions used in the LFS are:

Under-employment: For persons working part-time (defined as usually working less than 35 hours per week at a main job), information is collected on the main reason for part-time work. Estimates on the number of involuntary part-time workers are available (that is, persons working part-time who want full-time work).

Hours of work: The LFS collects information on actual and usual hours worked at main job as well as the total for all other jobs. Full-time hours are defined as 40 or more usual hours per week at main job.

Status in employment: Estimates on the number of employees (private and public sectors) and the self-employed, including unpaid family workers are available (ICLS 13).

Reference period:

The reference period of the Labour Force Survey is a seven day period, referred to as the reference week. It is the full calendar week (from Sunday to Saturday) which contains five clear working days preceding the starting date of the survey. In cases where the last calendar week does not contain the required number of clear working days the reference week is then changed to the previous week that meets the requirement.

The survey uses a master sample (all possible dwellings that the sample can be selected from) which is updated every three to four years.

Industrial Coverage:

All industries as outlined in the Jamaica Industrial Classification (JIC 2005) are covered. The JIC is a local adaptation of the United Nations Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC Rev 3.1).

Occupational Coverage:

All occupations as outlined in the Jamaica Standard Occupational Classification (JSOC 2011) are covered. The JSOC is a local adaptation of the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 2008).

Geographical Coverage:

The data are national in scope and cover all the parishes of Jamaica. The survey is conducted in approximately 10,464 dwellings selected from 654 enumeration districts (EDs).

Population Coverage:

The survey covers the civilian non-institutionalized population aged 14 years and over.

Topical Coverage:

The data are tabulated by several categories such as sex, age group, industry, occupation, employment status, type of employment, training, education, hours worked during the reference week, and total number of workers in business enterprise.

The Labour Force Survey’s population coverage excludes foreign diplomatic corps, foreign military personnel and those who accompany them, persons living in institutions such as hospitals, homes for the aged, prisons, military barracks and persons living on cays.

Students who are at secondary school full time and are less than 18 years old are also excluded from being measured in the labour force.

Industry information for employed persons is collected for all industries and all estimates are coded using the Jamaica Industrial Classification (JIC 2005) which is a local adaptation of the United Nations Standard Industrial Classification of all Economic Activities (ISIC Rev 3.1).

Occupation:

Occupation information for employed persons and all estimates are coded using the Jamaica Standard Occupational Classification (JSOC 2011) which is based on the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO 2008).

Data on employment are compiled from the quarterly household Labour Force Survey and represents the Jamaican non-institutional population 14 years and older.

Survey design:

The sample for the Labour Force Survey is based on a stratified two-stage design with probability proportional to size (PPS). Sampling of primary sampling units (PSUs) occurs in the first stage, and sampling of dwelling units with systematic sampling occurs in the second stage.

Sample size:

The sample size for the LFS is approximately 10,464 dwelling units from 654 Primary Sampling Units, namely: enumeration districts (EDs).

Sampling errors are reduced by the selection of a fairly large sample and by using an efficient sample design and estimation strategies, such as stratification and ratio estimation.

Non-sampling errors:

These are reduced by the proper training of the data collection staff, proper data editing, close monitoring of the field staff and the establishment of other quality control procedures.

Response errors:

Non-response errors occur when the survey fails to get a response to one, or possibly all, of the questions. There are usually two types of non-response, item non-response and unit non-response. Imputation is not usually done to compensate for either item or unit non-response.

· Each record is weighted to correspond to the inverse of the probability of selection.

· Adjustments are made to this weight to account for non-response.

· The final weight is adjusted so that the totals will match with the population estimates for the various age groups, sex and parish of residence.

· The 2011 Population and Housing Census data were used as a basis for the weighting. The weights were constructed so that the responses from the sampled households could be expanded to represent the entire civilian population of the country.

Sample size and design:

The quarterly LFS sample size consists of approximately 10,464 dwellings and 654 PSUs. If there are more than one household in a dwelling, each household is included. All civilian household members 14 years and older who are usual residents in the household are eligible for the survey.

Response rates and the standard errors of key variables are used as potential indicators of discrepancies in intermediate data. Other consistency checks are carried out to make corrections of any statistical discrepancies.

All LFS data are revised after new population estimates become available following the most recent population census data. For this, all LFS data back to the previous census are re-weighted using the new population estimates.

The existing LFS questionnaire was revised in 2009. Changes to the questionnaire included the addition of a number of questions to bridge the then current data gap.

A number of questions were included to make it possible to study under employment and informal employment. The questionnaire, which is now administered using tablet computers (CAPI), consist of a number of automated edit checks for logical inconsistencies.

The Labour Force Survey is used to provide demographic data on education, training, income etc. in addition to the quarterly labour market estimates. All other indicators disseminated by STATIN which can affect the labour market are closely monitored.

The data are preliminary when first released. Revised data for the year preceding the reporting year are released annually.

These revised data are subject to revision each year when the sample-based estimates are realigned to reflect the most recent population estimates. The revisions are usually highlighted in the most recent release and revised data set.

Data are disseminated in tables with supporting text about the number of employed persons disaggregated by age, sex, other demographic variables, under-employment and informal sector activities.

The data are obtained from the quarterly Jamaica Labour Force Survey which represents the Jamaican non-institutional population 14 years old and older. The LFS provides a number of key labour market indicators that generally conform to the ILO concepts and definitions.

There is no formal advance release calendar. However the reports are released according to the following schedule:

1. All annual reports (except the National Income and Product Report) are prepared for release in time for the Annual Budget presentation in Parliament which is usually in April of each year. The annual National Income and Product Report is released six months after the end of the calendar year.

2. Release dates for monthly reports vary according to their production cycle. The Consumer Price Index Bulletin is released by the 15th of each month; the Producer Price Index Bulletin is released eight weeks after the reference month and the External Trade Bulletin is available eight to twelve weeks after the reference month.

3. The Quarterly Gross Domestic Product publication is available three months after the reference quarter.

4. Labour Force dataare produced quarterly and available approximately four months after the reference month.

As soon as data become available they are released to the public by the following means:

1. Copies of the report are dispatched to: The relevant Ministries of Government; Subscribers; Organizations with which an exchange relationship exists; and STATIN's Library (which is open to the pubic).

2. Summary data are made available on STATIN’s website.

3. Press Releases and newspaper advertisements are prepared and published.

The data series on employment for years or quarters can be requested at info@statinja.gov.jm Detailed tables are available for a fee from STATIN upon request, subject to the confidentiality provisions of the Statistics Act.

Minor changes were made to the Labour Force questionnaire in 2000. The principal changes were related to: (1) Date and type of latest vocational training and(2) Satisfaction with the current employment.

Selection of new sample for Labour Force Survey, using data from the 2001 Population Census as a sampling frame. This will reduce current problem of respondent fatigue. The sample of selected dwellings is revised periodically. The timing of these revisions is not fixed but has never exceeded five years.

Revision of the Occupation and Industrial classifications to conform with the latest UN ISCO and ISIC revisions.

Review of labour force survey questionnaire design and method of data processing, maybe using scanning technology. Also place some emphasis on the measurement of underemployment.

Notes:

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